Our Final Goodbye
by SpiritualPuzzleshipper
Summary: After battling Diva and saving the world once again, Yugi returns home. Left with his own thoughts he receives an unexpected visitor. He may finally get to say, what's on his mind. Yugi POV...hint of puzzleshipping! Takes place after DSOD and honestly I think this is a great ending to it!


I closed the door to my room and sighed, leaning against it, closing my eyes, I slid down the door. Sitting on the floor, my knees curled up to my chest. "That was harder the second time." I whispered. I just returned from Kaiba Dome, the place where I ended up dueling Kaiba. Where I put the puzzle together once more. I wore it once again, just like old times. I reach for my chest, feeling for what was not there anymore. "Why?" I asked him, though I know he wasn't there. Diva, no Aigami, he had been controlled by the spirit of the ring and was destroying the world right in front of me. I refused to give up, but my body was too weak. I remember struggling to breathe, my eyes were fading to black, I refused to give up, but I had no other choice. Until, he came. I blinked back a couple tears and looked out my window. "Atemu." Yes, my other self, my best friend, my first love. He had came and helped me. All that emptiness I had felt these last six months, went away. I was filled with warmth, the void was filled with him. I missed him so much and to feel him inside me once again, it was the hardest thing to do. "We did it." I smiled thinking back on the events that happened just hours ago. He took control of my body and with his strength and my determination, he was able to win the duel. The spirit lost and was gone once more, the world was saved again. Just as quickly Atemu was inside me, he was in front of me. He was talking to me, through our mind link. The link that I thought was destroyed.

 _He smiled at me, I smiled back. "It's good to see you." I say._

 _He nodded. "It's good to see you too."_

 _"I've missed you." I held back tears._

 _"Oh, I've missed you too, Aibou."_

 _I shudder, I haven't been called that in so long. "How are you?"_

 _"I'm good. You?"_

 _"Good! I'm graduating next week." I never take my eyes off of him._

 _"Oh Aibou." His smile got bigger, eyes stayed locked with mine. "I am so proud of you." I didn't say a word, I wanted him to finish. "You have become the man I knew you always were."_

 _I just nodded at him. "Thank you."_

 _"I must go now." He didn't take his eyes off me._

 _"I understand."_

 _"I am taking the puzzle. So no one can ever bring destruction to this world again." He reached down to touch the puzzle. I nodded. He touched it and it began to glow, disappearing into air. He too glowed and vanished from my sight. "I wish you all well." I heard his voice one last time as I look up to the sky, the glow fading._

I hiccuped, tears falling from my eyes. "I had to say good bye again." I wasn't prepared for that, I was six months ago, but not now. Not again. "I miss you." I wrapped my arms around my legs and bury my head in them, crying for I don't even know how long. I didn't care, I was tired of putting on the strong face. The brave face. The 'Yugi's got this.' face! I felt like I wasn't allowed to miss him, that I wasn't allowed to cry for him. But that wasn't fair! Why was I suppose to be strong, when they were allowed to break? Tea cried for two weeks, we all comforted her, yet she wasn't the one who had him inside her heart and mind. I was! I was the one who saw him twenty four seven, I was the one who talked to him late at night, every night! I was the one who knew him before he knew himself. I knew the real Pharaoh, they knew what he wanted them to see. "I hate myself." I mumbled between sobs. "I'm suppose to be strong."

All of a sudden a flash of light came into my room. I snapped my head up and look at the figure appearing before me. I gasp as the light faded and in front of me, in the middle of my room, was him. Atemu! He stood there, in my school uniform, smiling at me. Just as he did just hours ago. But his face was more gentle, his eyes more relaxed. "Atemu." I whispered in disbelief.

"Aibou."

I scurried to my feet and ran to him, wrapping my arms around his neck. "It's you! It's really you!" I sobbed.

Wrapping his arms around me, he held me tight. "Yes, it's me."

"What are you doing here?" I asked, but not wanting to know at the same time.

"Shh." He chuckled. "Don't tell them."

I pulled away and looked him in the eyes. "Tell who?"

"The gods." He smiled. "I figured since I had a chance to see you, I wanted to be less formal. More intimate." Our chests touched and I blushed remembering our past. The things we said, the things we said we wouldn't say.

"Thank you for helping me save the world." I smiled at him, my arms falling to my side. He kept his arms around my waist, keeping me close. "One more time."

"I just moved your body, you did the rest."

I shrugged. "I guess I'm not as strong as you thought I was?"

He nodded. "No, you're the strongest man I know. You fought till the end." He smiled and pulled me into a hug, I returned it easily.

"I love you." I whispered in his ears.

He sighed. "We said we wouldn't say that."

"I know. But I think we're beyond that, don't you?" I snuggled into his neck, smiling and taking in his scent. He smelled warm, spicy, like a mix between an apple pie and cinnamon.

"I love you too." He squeezed me tight. We stayed like that a while, neither of us breaking the hug or silence. We were content with what we had, knowing that soon it would end and he would leave, again.

"I am tired of being strong." I spoke softly into his neck.

He shuddered. I guess from my breath on his skin. "You don't have to be." He finally pulled away and looked into my eyes. "I never once asked you to."

"I feel like I have to, for them." I meant our friends, he knew that.

"That's not fair though." He squeezed my shoulders. "If you hold it in, you'll burst."

I chuckled. "I already have. My first night here." I swallowed, fighting the tears. "It was harder than letting you go after our duel. Sleeping in our room, the room we shared, for years. Without you." I bit my bottom lip and let a couple tears fall.

He cupped my face and wiped the tears that were on my cheeks. "I bet." He sighed. "You can be strong at the right moments, but don't let it boil up inside. That will break you." I looked at him, knowing he was right.

"Maybe I should tell them." I looked down at my feet.

"Maybe." He shrugged. "It's up to you."

"I always wondered what they would think, knowing that I fell in love with you."

He chuckled. "Well you can tell them the feelings were mutual."

"I could. Or I could say you brain-washed me."

"You're suffering from Stockholm syndrome." He nodded and grinned at me.

I nodded quickly. "Yeah, it's bad." I returned the grin. We both laughed for a moment. "You're leaving again, aren't you?" I finally asked, wrapping my arms around myself.

"I'm here as long as you need me to."

"But, not forever?"

He sighed heavily. "Not forever. I wish." He looked to the bed. "Can you promise me, when I leave, you'll be okay?" He looked back at me. "I want to return knowing you will be okay."

I sighed, finally I can tell him what I been wanting to say for so long. "Atemu." I cleared my throat. "Sit, please." He did as I asked. "I want to tell you how I really feel." I sat next to him and he looked at me and frowned.

"I'm listening." He put his hand on mine and nodded, letting me know he had my attention.

"You ask me if I can make a promise. A promise that I will be okay. But I can't make that promise." I sighed and took a deep breath. "I can't promise I will be okay, I can't promise I won't cry. I can't promise I will move on. I can't promise that I will ever heal from this. I will have bad days, but I will also have good days." Tears began to form in my eyes again. "I will cry, I will miss you. I will always have this empty feeling inside of me." I put my hand on my heart. "You're not here anymore and usually people can learn to move on, to love again. But they didn't have their loved ones close, like I had you." I closed my eyes, holding his hand tight while my other stayed on my heart, the tears fell. "They don't know, nor will ever understand, what we had. They will continue to ask me if I will be okay, and I will tell them yes. But deep down, I will never be okay. I will never be the same Yugi they knew." I opened my eyes and looked at him, his eyes were foggy from the tears forming as well. "You made the Yugi that they knew, but the Yugi that is here now, is a Yugi that had to grow up and say good bye to his best friend. He had to let go of the one person who knew him in ways no one else ever will." I leaned towards him and our foreheads touched. "I don't mind being this Yugi, but I do miss the old Yugi, just as much as I miss you."

"Aibou." He sobbed. "I never meant to do this to you."

I chuckle with a sob. "You didn't do this, I did. I had to change to be like you." I bit my bottom lip and smiled. "I'm okay with growing up without you, but I am not okay for the idea of never seeing you again. Of never talking to you, staying up late, playing games, of those ghostly hugs that were so warm. I'm not the same."

"I know you're not."

"But you know." I looked into his eyes, he had them closed though, so I pulled away from him and he opened them. "I'm going to live for us both." I placed my hand on his cheek.

"What?" He asked, his brows furrowed, confusion filled his face.

"You didn't get a chance to live. You were a young boy, a teenager, and than a king for barely a week. You didn't get to live." I emphasized the last word. "The time you had here these past three years, those were great, but not enough." I cleared my throat, held his hands in mine and squeezed them. "So I'm going to live for us both. I'm going to do things that we should have done together. I'm going to live as Yugi but also as Atemu. Not Pharaoh Atemu, just Atemu. The one I knew behind closed doors."

He was speechless, I could tell. His jaw trembled lightly, he was holding back the tears. He wanted to cry, he wanted to tell me not to do that. But he knew better. I smiled, closed my eyes, and tilted my head. "Aibou, thank you." He squeezed my hands in return and the tears fell from his face for a few moments. We allowed our foreheads to rest on each other again and we stayed like that for a while. I actually started to fall asleep. "I think I need to go." He finally broke the silence.

"Can you stay? Just for tonight?" I whispered, feeling the events of the day finally catch up to me.

"I can, but when you wake, I won't be here." He too sounded tired, maybe he too felt my exhaustion.

"I know. I don't mind." He wrapped his arms around my waist and slowly laid us down on my bed. I took my jacket off and threw it to the ground, I get hot easily in my sleep. He leaned up once I was on my back and smiled down at me. "Everything okay?" I asked.

"Yes." Was all he said as he laid down next to me.

I rolled over to my side, facing the wall, he rolled over and faced my back. Wrapping his arms around me as tight as he could. My right hand, his left, found each other quickly and our fingers intertwined. "I can't wait for the adventures we are going to have." I said softly.

"Neither can I. Please tell me all about them." I heard him sigh, he was content. I knew his eyes were closed as his head rested on mine slightly.

"We'll go to America again, but this time to New York. We'll visit Tea at her school...maybe see a play together. One she's in, of course!." I got excited thinking of what it will be like to see our friend on stage, doing what she loves to do. "Joey will eventually beat me in a duel. Also he'll beat Kaiba!" I chuckled.

He let out a big belly laugh. "I can't wait to see Kaiba's face."

"Neither can I." I whispered with a soft chuckle to myself. "I'm designing a game. We'll play it together...maybe you will help me figure out...some of the rules. Oh we'll travel the world...see places, do things. Discover games...from other countries...that no one knows about. We'll...play them all." My eyes closed, not opening anymore. It was time to say good bye to him, for the third time.

"Third times the charm." He whispered in my ear, as if he read my mind. I leaned back as close as I could to him. "I love you Yugi." Were the last words I heard from him, sleep took over for me and I allowed a tear to fall. He and I both knew, without words, that not being okay, was okay. That I wasn't going to try and kill myself or wallow in depression, but I was going to miss him and I was going to cry every time he came to my mind. I may not ever get married and have kids, but I do know, he will always be in my heart.

I woke the next morning, cold. My hand was still warm though, he left not too long ago. Bringing my hand to my heart, I smiled. "Good morning, Mou Hitori no Boku." I said as I stood up and looked out my window. "Today begins our new beginning." I smiled as I stared at the light of the sunrise over Domino City. He's watching too, right next to me. Though I can't feel him anymore, I know, he is there.


End file.
